Florida family lived large while running credit repair scam, says settlement

Clean Credit Report Services Inc. has agreed to stop making false claims and charging up-front fees under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

The settlement is part of a Operation Clean Sweep, an ongoing crackdown on scams that target financially strapped consumers. In this case, Clean Credit Report Services was taking hundreds of dollars in fees to purportedly remove negative information from consumers' credit reports -- even if the information was accurate and timely.

The settlement agreement requires Clean Credit Report Services, Ricardo A. Miranda, Ruthy Villabona, and their son, Daniel R. Miranda, to surrender two cars, three houses, and six commercial properties in Broward and Miami-Dade counties in Florida, and in Bogota, Colombia.